1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a level shifter and a flat panel display using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various flat panel display devices that have reduced weight and volume in comparison to a cathode ray tube have been developed. Different types of flat panel display devices include a liquid crystal display, a field emission display, a plasma display panel and an organic light emitting display, etc.
The liquid crystal display displays images by controlling the amount of light generated from the external backlight that is transmitted through the liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal display can display a large area image at a high resolution as technology has developed. Therefore, it has been used in various fields. Also, the organic light emitting display displays images by using organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) that generate light through the recombination of electrons and holes. The organic light emitting display has been spotlighted as the next generation display since the organic light emitting display has advantages of rapid response speed and low power consumption.
The liquid crystal display and the organic light emitting display include pixels positioned at crossing portions (“crossings”) of scan lines and data lines, a data driver for driving the data lines, and a scan driver for driving the scan lines.
The scan driver sequentially selects the pixels in a horizontal line unit (i.e., a horizontal row of pixels) by sequentially supplying scan signals to the scan lines. The data driver supplies data signals to the data lines in synchronization with the scan signals supplied from the scan lines. As a result, the data signals are supplied to the pixels selected by the scan signals and an image having brightness corresponding to the supplied data signals is then displayed.
The scan driver and/or the data driver include a level shifter unit having a plurality of level shifters that generally shift the magnitude of input signal voltages.